The reorientation of spatial planning systems and policies:The case of Denmark

Danish spatial planning has been increasingly subjected to profound reorientations over the past two decades. The comprehensive frame wherein planning policies and practices operated across different levels of administration has become significantly altered. This has been particularly evident after the implementation of a structural reform that changed the political and administrative structure in the country. Most importantly, the reform abolished the county level, which caused that planning policies, functions and responsibilities were re-scaled to municipal and national levels. This situation brought about radical shifts in terms of the scope of planning policies, the implementation of land-use tasks as well as the performance of the institutional arrangements operating within and beyond the planning system. Based on an in-depth analysis concerned with these changes, the paper endeavours into discussing how spatial planning has become reoriented. This is performed through an empirical analysis regarding the transformation of spatial planning in relation with the evolving conception of planning policies at different scales, the changing role of planning in conceiving and handling growth and development matters, and the shifting institutional arrangements associated with spatial planning in the country